NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Newly released records show four commissioners at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were allowed to bypass regular security lines and received other perks when they flew out of airports run by the agency.

The Port Authority released the records Thursday. Newspapers requested the documents after the revelation that the FBI has requested records from United Airlines and Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina. A direct flight between Newark and Columbia began while David Samson, who had a home in South Carolina, was chairman of the Port Authority and ended days after he resigned last year.

The records said workers at times used golf carts to escort Port Authority officials between their cars and airport gates – skipping check-in lines.

“It’s probably one of the most outrageous things that’s come across my desk,” Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, head of the advocacy group New Jersey Citizen Action, told WCBS 880’s Levon Putney. “People can barely arrange their travel around reduced flights and full flights.”

Records: Port Authority Commissioners Got Perks At Airports

Port Authority Chairman John Degnan said the special airport treatment for board members has “basically come to a halt.”

Commissioner David Steiner and his wife most often received the perks, though other commissioners also got them. In all, Steiner, Anthony Sartor, Virginia Bauer and Samson and their family members received the special treatment a total of 24 times from 2010 through last year at Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy airports.

Airport chauffeur Frank Pacifico told CBS2’s Dick Brennan on Friday he has seen big shots of all kinds get the red carpet treatment.

“I see it all the time,” Pacifico said. “Security guard takes somebody, brings them up and you say ‘who was that? Uh, that was one of the employee of the airport.’ They don’t tell you, you don’t know exactly who it is, but whatever, you can figure it out yourself.”

The unpaid board is appointed by the governors of New York and New Jersey, but all four commissioners on record using what’s called “special passenger assistance” are from New Jersey.

In some cases, they were met by employees at their cars and taken to faster employee-only security lines. They also boarded planes early and were shuttled to an airport lounge.

“I mean we all wait in line, why shouldn’t they have to wait in line?” Salowe-Kaye said. “The average person walks to the gate.”

Salowe-Kaye said commissioners were appointed to work for residents “to make our travel better and it seems like the only thing that they’re doing is making their personal lives better and easier.”

The new revelations had some people at Newark Liberty Airport more cynical than ever.

“It’s kind of annoying, but it is how it goes I guess,” passenger Taylor Winkle told CBS2’s Brennan.